Life is better with good food, good wine and great design!

Design Crush: Mary McDonald

Mary McDonald is my all-time favorite designer and is known for her quick whit and brutal honesty. She is a master at using pattern and color to get maximum impact in every space she creates. She is very intuitive when curating accessories, creating balance through layering and her use of pairs. This space is a wonderful example of that; I love the pops of color and overall balance and harmony that it creates.

I think I love her so much because she designs with a similar mindset to mine. She loves fabrics, draperies and pillows, and her interiors are warm and inviting but also a little edgy. I also love to add bold, edgy and unexpected elements to my designs but also like to practice restraint to keep a space within the realm of dramatic rather than pushing too hard and entering no-longer-tasteful territory.

Mary started out her career as a milliner and stumbled into designing interiors at the request of friends and family. This seems to be a common theme in the story line for many designers. I have read Mary’s “The Allure of Style” book at least five times cover to cover and thumb through it often just because I love looking at her work so much.